Sranan (or Sranan Tongo) is a creole language spoken as a lingua franca by approximately 300,000 people in Suriname. Sranan is the most commonly used language in the country, even though Dutch is the official language used by the government. For many years, the Dutch suppressed the use of Sranan, but it has risen to become the most spoken language of Suriname after a former military leader took over the government of the country. As the population of Suriname consists of Dutch-, Javanese-, Hindustani-, and Chinese-speaking communities, and many inhabitants do not speak either Dutch or English, Sranan took its place as the common language of communication for peoples of different ethnic backgrounds. It is also used among immigrants of Surinamese origin in the Netherlands.

Sranan has relatively few written resources. If you know English, however, it is relatively easy to learn as the language basically is a fusion of English, Dutch, Portuguese and Central and West African languages. Don't plan on learning the language by watching television. While seemingly odd, you will hardly be able to learn either Sranan or Dutch from television in Suriname, as those languages together only make up about 7% of all television broadcasts. 40% of the broadcasts are in Hindi, 30% in English, and around 20% in various Chinese dialects. This makes it more difficult to learn Sranan or Dutch in-country.